Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Walt Disney Co. said "The Force Awakens" crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days. The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal's "Jurassic World," which did it in 13 days in June. "Jurassic World" also had the benefit of record grosses in China. "The Force Awakens" doesn't open in the world's second-largest movie market until Jan. 9.

J.J. Abrams' installment of "Star Wars" also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend earnings with $153.5 million.

"The Force Awakens" has been setting records since its debut Dec. 17. It brought in a galactic $238 million in North America over its opening weekend, besting previous record-setter "Jurassic World," and set international opening-weekend records in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe. It scored the biggest worldwide debut with $529 million. It also topped $100 million in IMAX screenings in 10 days, another global record.

"You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie," box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak said. "It's absolutely mind-blowing that `Star Wars' could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn't even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world."

The power of "Star Wars" meant the rest of the week's releases were competing for second place. That prize went to the Paramount comedy "Daddy's Home," which opened with $38.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. David O. Russell's new drama starring Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy," debuted in third place with $17.5 million.

A flurry of new films also opened in the top 10 this weekend. "Concussion," the Will Smith-NFL drama, took in $11 million, good for sixth place, followed by the financial-crisis saga "The Big Short," which collected $10.5 million. The remake of "Point Break" opened with $10.2 million. And Quentin Tarantino's latest film, "The Hateful Eight," debuted in 10th place with $4.5 million.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Rey was a Force-sensitivehumanfemalescavenger who conducted her trade on the planet of Jakku, located in a remote section of the Western Reaches, thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The scavenger was born to unknown parents and at the age of five, was left on Jakku, a junkyard planet littered with leftovers from a battle between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire.
During her lifetime, Rey learned how to survive, becoming a gifted
mechanic, pilot and warrior. She was seemingly destined to live out her
days on a forlorn backwater world, while ignorant of the larger galaxy
and its perils and possibilities. She inhabited a downed AT-AT
and scraped a living through scavenging parts from ships from the
battle, while hoping for the return of her long-lost family, from whom
she was separated when young.

Upon contact with the lightsaber, Rey received a series of visions.
After the vision, Maz Kanata explained to her the lightsaber's history
and that it was now calling to her. Shortly afterwards, Rey was captured
by Kylo Ren as the First Order attacked Takodana.

Finn, Chewbacca, and Han Solo went to the Resistance base, where they meet Leia Organa, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Meanwhile on Starkiller
base, Kylo Ren unsuccessfully tried to pull information about the
starchart Rey had seen from her mind. Now aware of her Force powers, Rey
was soon able to free herself and started looking for a way out of the
base.

Finn, Chewbacca, and Han Solo infiltrated the base to bring down
the shields in preparation for a large-scale Resistance attack, and also
to recover Rey. They soon encountered her. After Kylo killed Solo, he
chased Rey and Finn. Kylo force pushed her and briefly knocked her out.
Finn, enraged, fought Kylo with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, but was
severely wounded and fell into a coma. Rey regained consciousness, took
the lightsaber, and defeated Kylo. She severely disfigured him, but she
spared his life. After escaping in the Falcon with Finn and Chewbacca,
Rey set out to find Luke Skywalker with Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO,
eventually finding him on an oceanic planet following the directions of
the encoded star-chart.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Rey was born to unknown parents and at the age of five, was left on the planetJakku,[4] a junkyard planet littered with leftovers from the Battle of Jakku between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire.[5] She lived on her own inside a downed AT-AT and learned to survive by scavenging the leftovers which she would sell for sustenance.[1] Rey's skills as a scavenger have earned the respect of many junk traders, Unkar Plutt
in particular. Plutt ordered his thugs not to steal Rey's wares because
she was a valuable source of salvage. Rey had learned self-defense as a
matter of necessity in order to to adjust to the harsh conditions on
Jakku.[2]
On one of her scavenging trips, Rey came across an old flight
simulator. She took the simulator back to the AT-AT she lived in and
used it to learn how to pilot as a source of entertainment.[6] Rey kept an old Rebel flight helmet during her one of her first scavengings at the Graveyard. The helmet belonged to Captain Dosmit Ræh of the Tierfon Yellow Aces.
Rey would make up stories about who Ræh was and what planet she might
have come from. She also made a doll out of a flight uniform she found
in a cargo container. She would put on the helmet and explore the AT-AT
walker and the outdoors with the doll and she would find lost rebels and
get them back to their ships.[7]

Meeting BB-8 and Finn

Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Rey encountered a BB-unit astromech droid named BB-8 struggling against being captured by a Jakku scavenger named Teedo. She freed the droid
and set it on its way, but BB-8 was insistent on remaining with Rey.
When returning to a settlement to collect payment on scrap, two thugs
attempted to steal the droid, but Rey fended them off with her staff.
BB-8 then saw Finn, a former stormtrooper and an acquaintance of the droid's owner, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. BB-8 identified the jacket
Finn was wearing as that of its owner, so Rey attacked Finn, believing
him to be a thief. After Finn explained his intentions, the First Order arrived, searching for a map that would reveal the location of Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, which BB-8 was in possession of. Rey, Finn, and BB-8 managed to escape in the Millennium Falcon, destroying two TIE fighters that had been pursuing them.[1]

Journey to Takodana

After escaping from Jakku, the Falcon was in major need of
repairs, so the two humans and the droid began working to fix it. While
they were working on repairs, the ship was caught in a tractor beam. Initially believing themselves to be captured by the First Order, they met their real captors: Han Solo and Chewbacca, the former owners of the ship. After a scuffle with enemy gangs of Solo's, in which Rey accidentally released three rathtars, Solo took Rey, Finn, and BB-8 to the planet Takodana to meet with Maz Kanata. There, Rey was called by the Force to a lightsaber that had previously belonged to Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke (which the latter had lost during a duel with the former in Cloud City three decades prior). Upon touching the lightsaber, she received a series of visions in which she saw Cloud City, Luke with R2-D2, herself as a child watching the departure of her parents, and the Knights of Ren
surrounded by slaughtered victims. After the vision, Maz Kanata
explained to her the lightsaber's history and that it was now calling to
her. Frightened by her vision, Rey refused to keep the lightsaber,
running off into the woods with BB-8.[1]

Capture and escape

While fleeing through the woods, the First Order, tipped off to BB-8's presence, attacked Takodana. Rey encountered Kylo Ren
and shot at him with her blaster pistol, but Kylo restrained her using
the Force. Learning that she had seen the star-chart BB-8 carried, he
decided that capturing the droid was no longer important, as he believed
he could pull the information from Rey's mind instead. He rendered her
unconscious with the Force and took her with him.
She was brought to Starkiller Base
and interrogated by Kylo Ren, trying to pry from her information on the
map to Luke Skywalker. However, the darksider had a difficult time
probing her mind, and Rey was able to reach into Ren's mind, sensing his
fear at being weaker than his maternal grandfather Darth Vader. Upon
realizing that she was Force-sensitive, she used a mind trick
on her stormtrooper guard, allowing her to escape. Rey then made her
way through the Starkiller Base, honing her Force abilities while using
stealth. She eventually encountered Finn, Han Solo, and Chewbacca again,
who had come to sabotage Starkiller's shield generator, as well as
rescue Rey.[1]

Rey vs. Ren

After going with Finn to plant explosives, Rey witnessed Solo attempt
to reason with Kylo Ren, where she learned he was actually Han's son
Ben Solo. Kylo instead gave in fully to the dark side
by murdering his father, shocking and enraging her and Finn. While
escaping, Kylo pursued Finn and Rey. When they encountered each other,
Kylo pushed Rey away, and Finn ignited Skywalker's lightsaber and engaged Kylo in a lightsaber duel.
After Kylo disarmed and wounded Finn, he attempted to call the fabled
saber to him with the Force, but it instead went to Rey. Rey then
engaged Kylo in a duel, and despite her apparent lack of training, was
able to hold her own. Kylo pressed his offensive and became deadlocked
with Rey at the edge of a precipice. He remarked on her lack of training
and offered to teach her. Rey belligerently rejected him and called on
the Force to wound and defeat the darksider. Before she could kill or
capture him, however, a fissure due to the planet's impending
destruction separated the two. Rey then took the wounded Finn to the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Chewbacca, and returned to the Resistance base on D'Qar.[1]

Search for Luke

Upon returning to the Resistance base, the reawakened R2-D2
revealed the rest of the map showing the location of Luke Skywalker.
After saying goodbye to an unconscious Finn, Rey, Chewbacca and R2-D2
took the Millennium Falcon to Luke's location. With the Wookiee
and the droid staying behind, Rey journeyed across the island of an
unnamed planet, which she had previously seen in her visions. There she
found Skywalker and presented him with his old lightsaber.[1]

Personality and traits

Rey was a fair-skinned, brown-haired woman.

On Jakku, Rey was a loner, scavenging by herself and living alone
inside the wreckage of a downed AT-AT walker, hoping for her family to
return despite many years of their absence. Despite her years of
isolation, she was keen to help people in need, saving BB-8 twice from
thieves and then providing assistance to Finn. She was frightened by her
first Force vision, not wanting to take up the Skywalker lightsaber,
but her resolve strengthened and willingly took up in order to save
Finn. Unlike Kylo Ren, who was prone to fits of rage and used his rage
in combat, characteristics typical of dark side users, Rey was able to
remain calm and focused in order to defeat Ren using the light side of the Force.[1]

Powers and abilities

Due to her life as a scavenger, Rey had significant technological prowess. She was able to repair the Millennium Falcon,
despite it having been decades since it last flew, and her knowledge of
the ship impressed its former captain Han Solo. She was also a skilled
pilot, flying the Falcon through the wreckage of a Super Star Destroyer.[1]
She also had some prowess in melee combat, probably due to her
rough upbringing. She wielded a staff and was able to use it to subdue
two Jakku thugs, as well as former First Order stormtrooper Finn. This
combat proficiency, combined with her Force sensitivity, would translate
into skill with a lightsaber. Despite no apparent Jedi training, she
was able to fight Kylo Ren, a trained (albeit wounded) Knight of Ren to a
draw in her first lightsaber duel. She had little knowledge how to use a
blaster until the battle at Takodana, but quickly picked up the skill
and shot several stormtroopers.[1]
Rey was naturally gifted with the Force, and could use several
powers despite little to no training. She experienced a Force vision
upon touching the former lightsaber
of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. She was also able to resist Force
mind-reading techniques performed by Kylo Ren, and was instead able to
reach into his own mind and discover his fears. Despite two initial
failed attempts, Rey was able to use a mind trick on a stormtrooper
forcing him to release her from her restraints, leave with the cell
door open and drop his weapon for Rey to use, aiding her escape.
Shackled at the time, Rey accomplished the feat without the use of any
distracting gesture. She also used telekinesis,
pulling the Skywalker lightsaber from the snow, directly counteracting
Ren's attempt to summon the same weapon. Her affinity with the Force
then allowed her to defeat Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel, despite the
latter's greater experience, though notwithstanding his wound.[1]
Rey also demonstrated the ability to resist the dark side of the Force,
choosing to spare Kylo despite the dark side's lure calling to her to
end his life.[8]

Behind the scenes

"I tend to gravitate towards stories of women, of young women in situations – as I did with Felicity and Alias. And we were talking about 'Who could this be?' and I saw this young woman."

Description

Luke's lighsaber is an enclosed, reflective silver cylinder emitting a
light-blue shaded blade of energy. Its design is reminiscent of Darth
Vader's red lightsaber.
Over time it has been subtly tweaked and modified.

History

The saber was first created as a replacement for Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber destroyed just before the Battle of Geonosis. Anakin wielded the blade throughout The Clone Wars and the events of Revenge of the Sith, including the assassination of Count Dooku and his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. After maiming Skywalker on Mustafar, Obi-Wan took the blade, leaving Anakin for dead.
Obi Wan subsequently took the blade into exile on Tatooine. He wanted young Luke Skywalker to have the lightsaber when he was old enough, but Luke's Uncle Owen would not allow it.
After Skywalker encountered Kenobi near the Dune Sea,
Obi-Wan presented Luke with the blade and explained that it had
belonged to Luke's father. He offered Luke his first rudimentary
training with the weapon aboard the Millennium Falcon during the passage to Alderaan.
Luke carried the lightsaber throughout the majority of the Galactic Civil War, gradually growing in skill and in the Force. The lightsaber was instrumental in his escape from the Wompa on Hoth.
When Luke faced Darth Vader in Cloud City on Bespin,
he lost the saber along with his right hand to Vader's saber stroke.
The saber plummeted down the principal pylon shaft on Cloud City and out
of knowledge.
However, the saber re-emerged during Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Movie poster art shows Finn with Luke's lightsaver in hand.
Additionally, a brief clip released by Lucasfilm reveals Finn holding the saber in a combat pose.
However, these are misdirects. The lightsaber had come into the possession of Maz Kanata,
the owner of a trading post on a forested planet. Rey heard the
lightsaber "calling" to her when Han Solo took her to Maz to help her
find the Resistance. When she touched it, she received a series of
visions. Maz insisted that Rey should take it, and use it to find the
now missing Luke. Rey refused and ran off. Maz then gave the
lightsaber to Finn with the purpose of getting it to Rey.
Finn used to lightsaber to fight off the attacking First order,
and took it with him to rescue Rey from Starkiller Base. There, he used
it to fight Kylo Ren. Kylo disarmed Finn, severely wounding him. When
he tried to grab the lightsaber, however, Rey picked it up instead, and
used it to defeat Kylo. After escaping the base, she found Luke and
presented the lightsaber to him once more.

"We're headed toward a
large standoff with the rebels. We're committing a fair portion of the
fleet, and if the damned Rebellion wants to stand a chance of keeping
that sector, they'll have to do the same. This promises to be the
largest battle since Endor."

The Battle

"Our victory on Endor was just the beginning. Now over the barren world of Jakku, we stand against the Galactic Empire."

―Rebel trooper

The Battle of Jakku occurred one year and four days after the Battle of Endor between the forces of the New Republic
and the Galactic Empire. With the rebels aiming to capture a critical
sector in the galactic war and receiving intelligence of an Imperial weapons facility on the planet,[5]
the Empire readily dismissed the notion of a rebel victory and sent a
large portion of its now militarily exhausted Navy to combat the rebels
over control of the planet in a battle that could change the course of
the war. With the Empire's command of many of the galaxy's major
shipyards, Republic forces planned a bold move to capture the Imperial-class Star DestroyerInflictor, sending Thane Kyrell
and a number of former Imperials to board the ship and disable its
hyperdrive and self-destruct mechanism, due to their knowledge of Star
Destroyer layouts.[4]
The battle, while tactically in the Empire's advantage from the
beginning soon turned into a rout, with New Republic soldiers assaulting
the concentrated Imperial positions from multiple sides at once both on
the ground and in space. With the Imperials no longer having the
martial advantage it once had in the years before Endor, flawed tactics
as much as leadership gnawed away at an Imperial victory. With Imperial CaptainCiena Ree of the Inflictor about to contact Grand MoffRandd
to suggest splitting up the fleet to combat the Rebel star cruisers
from multiple angles, as well as sending twentry-gun raiders into the
atmosphere to support the TIE fighters
in orbit, her ship was suddenly boarded by New Republic soldiers. With
no choice, the commander of the vessel attempted to activate the ship's
self-destruct, only to discover that the boarders had disabled it.
Seeing no other option, as well as seeing a way to leave the Empire she
disliked while keeping her oath, Ree ordered her crew to evacuate and
then scuttled the ship by crashing the Star Destroyer
onto the surface of Jakku, sending shockwaves across the desert world.
However before the crash, the rebel Thane Kyrell stunned and managed to
carry her to an escape pod before the Inflictor crashed, bringing
the Captain and miraculously his former lover into Republic custody.
The battle had ended in a decisive defeat for the Galactic Empire.[4]

Aftermath

"In the month since
the Battle of Jakku, the Empire has attempted no further large-scale
offensives. Sources report all Imperial vessels within the Core and
Inner Rim staying within the boundaries defined by the treaty. A few
prominent members of the Provisional Senate have speculated that the New
Republic's war with the remnants of the Empire has finally come to an
end and that a final surrender may be imminent. However, in her address
today, the chancellor warned that all planets should remain on high
alert, and that the New Republic Starfleet should be kept on a war
footing for the foreseeable future."

The fallen Star Destroyer Inflictor some thirty years after the battle

With the battle ending with a victory for the rebels, Captain Ciena
Ree wondered whether the Empire's plans for making a stand at Jakku were
betrayed by an admiral or Grand Moff in a power play, as well as
believing that outdated Imperial battle tactics played a part in the
Empire's defeat. With the old strategy calling for a concerted,
simultaneous effort by all ships engaged in combat and controlled by a
central command, the lack of martial resources and effective leadership
played a key role in the Empire's defeat, with rebel attacks on Imperial
flanks ultimately proving fatal and contributing to heavy Imperial
losses. A month
following the battle, the Empire did not attempt to instigate any
large-scale offensives with the New Republic. Eventually, the exhausted
Empire negotiated a treaty with the New Republic, forcing Imperial
vessels located in the Core and Inner Rim to remain within pre-determined boundaries. With the treaty signed, a few prominent members of the reestablished Galactic Senate believed that the New Republic's war with the Empire was nearing its end and that the Empire's surrender was imminent.[4]

Notes and references

↑As the Jedi massacre took place several years before the events of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, the assault on Tuanul, which is depicted in the opening scenes of The Force Awakens, is the next known event after the massacre.